With James Harden out, Jeremy Lin has moved back into the starting lineup and aggressively looked for his shot as he had early in the season, a turnaround the Rockets hoped would continue.

Lin had fallen short of 10 attempts in five of six games before Harden missed the back-to-back against the Spurs and Mavericks. He took 13 shots on Tuesday and was even more assertive early against the Mavericks, taking seven first-quarter shots.

“He’s just got to play the way he plays, which is attacking,” Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. “No one flows for 82 games. There are times you go through periods you’re just out of sync a little bit. That’s everybody. That’s not Jeremy Lin. That’s every player that ever played. He was just in one of those little funks, I felt, trying to get himself going and playing aggressively. He needs to play that way.”

Lin had averaged 7.8 shots in the six games before his starts this week, but went 5 of 13 against the Spurs, scoring 18 points with eight assists.

“(Lin is) a naturally very aggressive player,” McHale said. “He needs to be aggressive. Jeremy plays his best when he’s attacking and when we have some pace in the game it really helps him.”